TMZ is reporting Michael Jackson died from a drug overdose. Jackson got aDemerol injection the morning he died. There may be more than one drug involved. The LAPD is still conducting an active investigation.

Katherine Jackson, Michael Jackson’smother, has been granted temporary guardianship of Michael’s three kids. A hearing is set for next Monday on the matter.

Meanwhile, Jackson’s Will has surfaced. Michael’s lawyer has a copy of the singer’s will and he intends to file it with the court. The Jackson family doesn’t have a copy of the will in attorneyJohn Branca’s possession. It’s unclear how many wills Jackson made, but Branca believes it’s the most current. Branca has a long history with Jackson. In 1985, Branca brokered the deal for Jackson to purchase The Beatles’ publishing catalogue. Branca and Jackson stopped working together in 2006 but the singer hired him back just three weeks ago. Debbie Rowe will be served with notice of a hearing.

AEG has promised a full refund for tickets to Michael Jackson’s 50 London concert dates if you bought your tickets through an “authorized dealer.” In a statement, AEG promises, “The refunds will be processed by each of the authorised ticket agencies (e.g. Ticketmaster, Viagogo, See or Ticketline).” It also says fans “will have the option to be sent the actual tickets” for the show.

Nothing signifies summer in San Diego more like an outdoor summer concert during sunset. Ani DiFranco played at the Humphrey’s by the Bay last night in a setting that was needless to say…incredible. After arriving and passing through the concessions that offered hot dogs, pizza, sushi (yes, sushi) and popcorn we sat down to watch the opening band.

Seagulls were flying over us, sail boats were docked around the perimeter of the stage, hotel suites were perched over the venue, palm trees were rustling in the wind while the ocean breezes cooled down the audience, who all had a red tint to their faces and shoulders from the weekend’s heat wave. This ambiance was totally San Diego.

Anonymity is the New Fame is a working philosophy and a way to live an artist’s and musician’s life in a world of showboaters and technological exhibitionists. It’s a way to stay yourself in a world where every sound and feeling shoved through the same narrow channels start to sound like a repetitive buzz of buzz.

I went to the JD Webb show without hearing a single song of his (at least that’s what I thought) but JD has been a songwriter and has finally stepped out to be his own performer. He was previously in a band called Raze. JD also released Bring It On with Warner Bros. in 2003 that received critical acclaim. Rolling Stone even dubbed him a “prolific songwriter.” You also may have heard his music on Days of Our Lives on NBC. I did glance at his Myspace profile and developed a few thoughts in my head of what the night was going to be like, but all my expectations for the night were wrong.

With an With an average age of 18, Dayton, OH’s MISS MAY I is poised to be the new face of heavy music. Blending death metal, thrash and melodic hardcore, MMI stands above the crowd of copy cat bands. You may ask what separates them from the rest of the pack? It’s simple…. amazing musicianship, great song writing, amazing CD production and a killer live show. Racking up an insane amount of MySpace plays from their demo’s alone, MMI is ready to unleash its debut Apologies Are For The Weak which was produced by Joey Sturgis (The Devil Wears Prada, Attack Attack!). The band graduated from high school this month and is now ready to hit the road forever. Miss May I will be on the Artery Metal Tour this summer with Carnifex, Impending Doom, Conducting The Grave, Underneath The Gun and Molotov Solution.

With their upcoming album “Artwork” on the way in September, The Used are thrilled to announce the launch of their new website. www.TheUsed.net is a unique experience for fans that will allow them to create their own site design, upload photos and video, artwork, instrument tabs and more. www.TheUsed.net will also feature, in July, new handwritten guitar tabs for the entire record leading up to the release, a tourography and a content upload bank where users can upload photos and videos from past shows. Visit www.TheUsed.net today!

TMZ is reporting John Landis, the man who directed Michael Jackson for the “Thriller” and “Black and White” videos, released the following statement “I was lucky enough to know and work with Michael Jackson in his prime. Michael was an extraordinary talent and a truly great international star. He had a troubled and complicated life and despite his gifts, remains a tragic figure. My wife Deborah and I will always have great affection for him.”

Landis currently has a lawsuit against Jackson, claiming the singer stiffed him over profits for the Broadway musical of “Thriller.”

Chicago indie-rock foursome STATE AND MADISON will make a special hometown appearance at Taste Of Chicago this Sunday, June 28 in Grant Park. The band plays the Best Buy Stage at 2:00PM.

Known for delivering pop-infused indie rock with their own signature punch, STATE AND MADISON will showcase a live display of their stylistic hybrid that sets hook-filled melodies atop forging rock energy. The band’s appearance follows the recent release of two all-new digital singles “Hot Damn!” and “By The Time You See The Sun” which just premiered on Q101 last month. As a thank you to their loyal fans, the band is currently giving both songs away for free online at www.stateandmadison.net/singles.

For the latest news on STATE AND MADISON, check out www.myspace.com/stateandmadison.

Advance tickets available now. Just $23 for single day tickets or $42 for a 2 day pass, at the Neumo’s box office and at Seattle Urban Outfitters or at Ticketswest.com. Get your tickets now to avoid the lines!

June 23, 2009—pickRset has stepped up to the social networking plate and has made the lives of bands and users on-the-go easier. Thanks to their pickRpic program, users can now update all of their various social networking pix at one time.

Starting now you will be able to use your pickRset updates to update your Twitter, Facebook, MySpace and Bebo accounts all at once – saving a great amount of time. Users only need to email their photos or updates to their account which will upload their photo to their pickRset profile and update their MySpace, Facebook, Twitter and Bebo accounts all in one simple shot.

pickRset believes this new and dynamic feature will really aid bands who can now get so much traffic to their various sites from just one picture. Their updated picture will be right next to their tour dates and available merch.

pickRset.com is more than a just music site. It’s a hands-on interactive experience whose sole purpose is to provide fans and artists with an unprecedented amount of direct and unique interaction in a free, easy-to-use online experience.
For more information on www.pickRset.com please contact:

Latest & Greatest Third LP Due Out Sept 15th On Frenchkiss Records
Produced By Phil EK (Built To Spill, Fleet Foxes, The Shins) / Tracklisting Revealed

With a title like Time To Die, you might think the Dodos’ third disc is their ‘mature album,’ a deadly serious undertaking punctuated with string sections and synths. Nice try kid, but you’ve got it all wrong. While indie rock’s go-to guy, Phil Ek (Built to Spill, Fleet Foxes, The Shins), hopped behind the boards this time, the Dodos’ wildly-percussive style is still centered around two key elements: the punchy percussion of Logan Kroeber and the Fahey-infused finger-picking of frontman Meric Long. Oh sure, you’ll hear a horn blast here and there, but it’s never enough to distract you from the group’s riffs and rolls.

“I’m glad that we were able to keep things simple on this record,” says Long, “Because when your band gets a little popular, there’s this tendency to say things like, ‘Let’s add an orchestra on this one!” That works for some people, but it would detract from this band.”

Indeed, and as right as Long may be, Time To Die introduces one major addition to the Dodos’ creative core: Keaton Snyder, a 21-year-old music school dropout who plays a mean vibraphone. As Long puts it, “He’s a better musician than Logan and I combined. I don’t even know what’s going on with his music theory ideas half the time.” On a similar note, Snyder—a classically-trained musician—is constantly learning what ‘being in a band’ entails. In fact, he didn’t even know how to react when a chord was yanked during his Dodos debut. “After the show,” says Long, “he was like, ‘Yeah, I’ve never had to plug anything in before.’ It was hilarious.”

I am sad to say that The King of Pop has passed away at the age of 50. In the past hour the all media outlets are confirming the death of Michael Jackson, including TMZ, OK Magazine, & the LA Times. The air waves have been blowin’ up with tributes to Michael.

Michael suffered a cardiac arrest earlier this afternoon at his Holmby Hills home and paramedics were unable to revive him. When paramedics arrived Jackson had no pulse and they never got a pulse back.

A source says Jackson was dead when paramedics arrived. Once at the hospital, the staff tried to resuscitate him but he was completely unresponsive. A source inside the hospital told us there was “absolute chaos” after Jackson arrrived. People who were with the singer were screaming, “You’ve got to save him! You’ve got to save him!”

A staff member at Jackson’s home made the 911 call.

Celebrity friends and fans have released the following reactions on their Twitter accounts:

John Mayer: Dazed in the studio. A major strand of our cultural DNA has left us. RIP MJ. I think we’ll mourn his loss as well as the loss of ourselves as children listening to Thriller on the record player.

Miley Cyrus: michael jackson was my inspiration. love and blessings

Ludacris: If it were not for Micheal Jackson I would not be where or who I am today. His Music and Legacy will live on Forever. Prayers to the famR.I.P.

MC Hammer: I have no words.. I loved Michael Jackson.. RIP..

Kelly Rowland: Michael you left such a legacy on this earth, have touched SO MANY!!! We thank you for such a driving inspiration in music & our lives!! This has got to be one of the saddest days in music history!! Michael Rest In Peace! WE miss you!

Quincy Jones’ Statement to TMZ:

“I am absolutely devastated at this tragic and unexpected news. For Michael to be taken away from us so suddenly at such a young age, I just don’t have the words. Divinity brought our souls together on The Wiz and allowed us to do what we were able to throughout the 80’s. To this day, the music we created together on “Off The Wall,” “Thriller” and “Bad” is played in every corner of the world and the reason for that is because he had it all…talent, grace, professionalism and dedication. He was the consummate entertainer and his contributions and legacy will be felt upon the world forever. I’ve lost my little brother today, and part of my soul has gone with him.”

June 24, 2009; Washington, D.C. – NPR Music is streaming a new album of live recordings from the complex and unpredictable singer Bjork, one week ahead of its official release. Her new album, Voltaic, is available for free, on-demand listening now through June 30 at npr.org/music, as part of the site’s “Exclusive First Listen” series.

Bjork, the 13-time Grammy nominee from Iceland, released her sixth album, Volta, in 2007. Before embarking on what would become a two-year-long tour to promote the record, Bjork and her band held a recording session at Olympic Studios in London. Voltaic collects those live-to-tape recordings, which includes selections from Volta and several previous albums: Medulla, Homogenic, Post and Vespertine. The entire album can be streamed now at NPR Music, where there is also a video of Bjork performing “Declare Independence.”

Complete track listings and album information are available at NPR Music, as well as an extensive Bjork archive of music, reviews and a live concert. NPR Music introduced its “Exclusive First Listen” series last year with Bob Dylan’s 2-CD set Tell Tale Signs. The series is now one of the site’s most popular features, and has offered pre-release streams of albums from artists such as Regina Spektor, Moby, Leonard Cohen and the Dirty Projectors.

The “Exclusive First Listen” series is one feature of NPR Music, a free, multimedia music discovery Web site at npr.org/music The site offers content from NPR and 12 NPR Member public radio stations, including live performances, studio sessions, first listens to new albums, interviews, reviews and blogs. The site’s continuously expanding sections are dedicated to rock/pop/folk, classical, jazz/blues, world and urban music. NPR Music culls from NPR’s and the stations’ extensive music archives to present thousands of features; more than 250 new features are added to the site every month.

The Aliens are creating a special limited-edition 50+page hard cover book, all color, and high rising book which will also house the record.The book will include drawings, poems, film stills, photographs, interviews…all done in the standard Alien manor. This special edition item will be sold through the Birdman website using Topspin’s Direct-to-fan marketing and distribution platform. Topspin technology helped power recent indie releases from David Byrne/Brian Eno, Metric, and re-issues from the Beastie Boys. The book will be available for pre-order in September.

“By rights, their arrival should create a Day The Earth Stood Still moment, aeons ahead of the competition. Breathless, revelatory & teetering on the brink of total collapse.” -Observer Music Monthly

Ladies and gentlemen, The Aliens have landed. Armed with a bottomless bag of psychedelically inclined rock and acid dipped electronics, The Aliens bring a freedom of spirit and a certainty of intent that immediately sets them out from the current crop of guitar slingers. Inspired by Sergio Leone and Serge Gainsbourg, Brian Eno and Brian Wilson, Larry David and Ol’ Dirty Bastard, their songs in the key of Fife reference the past whilst belonging resolutely to the future.

Meet DOCTOR ROSEN ROSEN
The LA based producer/artist who is quickly emerging as one of the most inventive musical voices in the remix world.

After remixing an eclectic mix of artists from Department of Eagles to Britney Spears to Alaska in Winter to Chris Cornell to creating beats for G-Unit and most recently remixing Lisztomania by Phoenix
Listen to Lisztomania here!-http://bln.kr/IC/

DOCTOR ROSEN ROSEN takes on Lily Allen remixing all of “It’s Not Me, It’s You”, creating a much deeper, darker version of the album – “It’s Not Me, It’s Doctor Rosen Rosen” Remix Album
All production by DOCTOR ROSEN ROSEN- the only samples used are Lily’s vocals.
Check out his remix of “F–K You (Doctor Rosen Rosen Rx)

Billboard charting blues artist Guy Davis to perform at
The Village at Lake Las Vegas

LAS VEGAS – June 24, 2009 –As part of The Village at Lake Las Vegas’ free concert series “Jazz on the Lake,” award-winning bluesman Guy Davis will perform on Saturday, July 25 from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. This is a stop on Davis’s tour promoting his new hit Red House release Sweetheart Like You.

Davis, an accomplished musician, composer, actor, director and performer is the son of actors Ruby Dee and the late Ossie Davis. Raised in New York City, Davis taught himself to play the guitar by listening to and watching other artists perform. His songs, inspired by stories of rural life in the south he heard from his parents and grandparents, all revolve around love, family and the often challenging paths life can take.

According to TMZ Michael Jackson was hospitaized in Los Angeles on Thursday (June 25) after suffering cardiac arrest and now they are saying he was pronounced DEAD. Other papers are not coming out and saying he’s passed. To me if someone suffers cardiac arrest that means their heart stopped and it’s not going to beat anymore. This is Michael Jackson’s camp, so I am sure they won’t come out and say until they absolutley have to.